Still Here, Just Tired

I am still here, just tired and not much to report anyway. The girls and I have been on our own for 12 days now and we're settling into a routine. As usual, we all get along much better if we stay somewhat busy. My children get stir crazy if you keep them inside and then they make me crazy.

A random collection of thoughts (some my own and some are things I've read recently):

• I love my husband because he's him, not because he's familiar. It's easy to start to wonder after 8 years of the day in and day out if you just get used to someone, but an impossibly long 12 days (and many more to come) has made it clear that it's definitely HIM and not just the familiarity.
• While I expect my husband to help in caring for his children, and I appreciate what an absolutely fabulous job he does at that, I am totally capable of single parenting if I need to. No, it's not always fun, but definitely doable.
  
• At the end of a long day when you question if you can handle another day of completely age-appropriate, but insanely frustrating child behavior, take the time to watch your children sleeping. The sweet sleeping face of a child is a sure way to refill your patience.
  
• Sometimes you find random gems on the internet, like "I’ve learned that kindness is not something I merely indulge myself in when everything is going my way...Being mean is being lazy."
• True education can be a lot of work and also natural and easy. It's completely worth it. I'm proud that my 5 year old will initiate complex conversations with people of all ages, help younger children, link up concepts between such diverse subjects as math and Spanish, and ask questions that show she is more interested in understanding than memorization.
• And last, but most certainly not least....a king sized quilt is still really, really big.